Speech recognition systems are specialized computers that are configured to process and recognize human speech and may also take action or carry out further processes. Developments in speech recognition technologies support “natural language” type interactions between automated systems and users. A natural language interaction allows a person to speak naturally. Speech recognition systems can react responsively to a spoken request. An application of natural language processing is speech recognition with automatic call routing (ACR). A goal of an ACR application is to determine why a person is calling a service center and to route the caller to an appropriate agent or destination for servicing a request. Speech recognition technology generally allows an ACR application to recognize natural language statements so that the caller does not have to rely on a menu system. Natural language systems allow the caller to state the purpose of their call “in their own words.”
Natural language ACR systems attempt to interpret the intent of the caller based on the spoken language and then selects a routing destination. When a speech recognition system misinterprets the caller's intent, significant problems can result. A caller who is misrouted is generally unhappy. Misrouted callers realize that there has been a mistake with the automated phone service and often terminate the call by hanging up. If a caller does not hang up they will typically be routed to an operator who will attempt to manually route the call. Routing a caller to an undesired location and to human operators leads to considerable inefficiencies for a business. Most call routing systems handle a large volume of calls and, even if a small percentage of calls are abandoned, the costs associated with abandoned calls are significant.